


For Rent

by aiIenzo



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 11:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/991319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aiIenzo/pseuds/aiIenzo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavin moves out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Rent

**Author's Note:**

> The thought of Millie and Gavin interacting on a daily basis fills me with so much love I had to write a thing. Here is that thing.

Griffon was the first to visit him, which didn’t surprise him. Nothing could call to her more than the pitiful white walls that spread from room to room, stretching high and low and expanding a place that, really, was too big for him to begin with.

He thinks back a lot, wondering what he had planned on using all that room for.

She offers to paint some of them, her eyes raking over the canvas in front of her as the colored marbles of ideas flooded her mind, clattering around so loudly she can barely hear when Gavin tells her no. Thank you. But the landlord said no alterations. 

She nods and says she understands. But if he wanted, she could really use his help with the mural for her and Geoff’s bedroom. If he wants.

I know you’ll be busy, doing your own thing. But don’t be a stranger, you’re always welcome.

It hits him a little harder than she meant it to, but girls always had a way of mixing the right thing to say and the wrong thing to say, and making it perfect.

Geoff visits next. He drops Gavin off after work and examines the place as only a father could do, eyes catching faulty wiring and chipped drywall, signs of a water leak under the floorboards. Gavin watches him, takes in every word of advice and mentally spits it back out, the jumble of tips making less sense than ever. He thinks back to the times when he’d help Geoff fix a busted water line in their (his) backyard, nothing but laughter and insults and pipe glue on his shirt.

Now Gavin would have to do it alone.

It takes Geoff a while to leave. It takes Gavin a while to shut the door behind him.

Ray and Michael come over to help him unpack, nothing but jubilance and a twelve pack and very little assistance. Finally the boxes are cleared (all 11 of them, really), and Michael is hovering before an empty room, a small little thing with nothing but windows and sunlight.

What is this going to be, Gavin?

Oh it’s for Millie. So she can spend the night. I thought she’d like the windows, and I’m going to bring in that big easel she wants.

Ray smiles, but it’s a bit sad. Michael looks at Gavin softy, and there’s a knowing there, something Gavin can’t pinpoint, but suddenly everything is just a little bit off. The world is a bit askew. Michael has the smallest twinges of pity in his eyes, and it looks sad. Gavin swallows, and he realizes he feels a bit sad as well.

He tries not to think about it, really, in the first few days. He tries to cook his own meals, but there’s a distinct lack of everything he’s come to love. There’s no Geoff, cutting up the meat for Millie. There’s no Griffon, handing her husband his third bottle of beer, soft kisses going unnoticed in the general clamor of dinner. And there’s no Millie.

There’s no three year old Millie, insisting she sit at the table, several cushions atop her chair as she fumbles her fork, eyeing Gavin closely and trying to mimic the way he holds his. There’s no five year old Millie, moving her chair closer to Gavin’s before fixing a wizard hat atop his head, gleaming under her princess crown. There’s no seven year old Millie, trying to slide her vegetables onto Gavin’s plate, and Gavin let’s her, of course (but only if she’ll share a pint of ice cream with him later).

There’s none of that.

And Gavin sits, night after night, poking his food sadly and waiting to hear voices he knows aren’t coming. Waiting for Millie to slide up against him on the couch, asking for help with her homework, because “my friend Gracie got _her_ brother to help her, and she’s always getting good grades.”

And sometimes he wants to cry, he really does, but he couldn’t keep living there forever. Not really. This was his home now, and he just has to adjust.

They stop by again while out shopping, and this time Millie is there, her hair done up with pink and green bows. They don’t match her outfit and her shoes are scuffed but when she smiles, it damn near breaks Gavin’s heart. 

He shows them around again, pointing out improvements and future plans, and it’s a bit subdued. Geoff is quiet, offering advice, making comments, but never seeming pleased. Griffon is talkative, informative, but there’s an unease to her voice, a sweet tone of a mother being strong, a compelling urge to say so much more, but with a conscience to keep quiet. Millie glances around impatiently, tracing patterns with her finger against the wall, her eyes darting curiously to Gavin.

It takes him five full minutes and the small passage into the dining room before he realizes her other hand has been linked with his. Tiny fingers pressing against his knuckles, colors of varying shades splashed across her nails in a vibrant display. There’s a knot in his throat and a flutter in his heart.

And when they’re finally standing at the door, Gavin is pleading with himself to make them stay. To ask where they’re going, if he can meet up with him, if they’d take him along. But he says nothing, only smiles and gestures and laughs, as he is wont to do, and it’s hard for anyone to meet eyes anymore. It’s so hard, and it hurts so much.

And finally, Geoff is bending down, asking Millie what she thinks of Gavin’s place.

She stares at him, then at Griffon, her hand still linked tightly with Gavin’s, and he’s willing her not to let go.

It’s nice, but when is Gavin coming home?

The rent sign is back in front of the house not two days later.


End file.
